An International Conference

Plenary Speakers

“I know everything is in Shakespeare: everything and the rest” - Jacques Derrida

Towards the end of his life Jacques Derrida wrote how he would have liked to have ‘become (alas, it’s pretty late) a “Shakespeare expert”,’ and that his desire would remain ‘to read and write in the space or heritage of Shakespeare, in relation to whom I have infinite admiration and gratitude.’ The aims of this conference are to commemorate the elective affinity between the French philosopher and English dramatist, to consider the importance of Shakespeare for Derrida’s thinking, and to project ways in which Derrida’s work might influence the future understanding of Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare critics have been slow to acknowledge the implications for Hamlet studies of Derrida’s Specters of Marx, while a recent highly-regarded biography of the philosopher never once mentions Shakespeare. The organisers of this Cardiff conference hope that by bringing Shakespeareans and philosophers together the event will end this mutual indifference and signpost ways in which for Shakespeare and Derrida the best is yet to come.